Five Steps: Fixing The Suns
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:08 pm
Five Steps: Fixing The Suns
By: Luke Byrnes
Coming into this season the Phoenix Suns had been to three of the past six Western Conference Finals and averaged better than 55 wins per season. This year, however, the Suns fell back to the pack and find themselves preparing for the NBA Draft Lottery rather than a playoff run.
Phoenix struggled to get stops and were a miserable rebounding team in 2010-11, finishing with a 40-42 record. The Suns are caught in a gray area with Vince Carter and Steve Nash moving towards retirement and a young crop of players not yet ready to push the organization into the playoffs.
On the outside of the playoff picture for just the fourth time in the last 23 years, here are five steps to help get Phoenix back into contention.
1. Trade Steve Nash
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash has been the face of the Phoenix Suns franchise since his return to the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix selected Nash with the 15th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft) in 2004. His contributions to the organization, as well as the community (he won the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2007), have been immeasurable, but at this point he can best serve the Suns as trade bait.
Nash, a 15-year veteran, remains one of the best shooters and playmakers in the NBA and has led the league in assists five times (including each of the last two seasons) during his Hall of Fame career. He has been the heart and soul of the Suns throughout one of the best stretches in the history of the franchise (from 1989-95 Phoenix averaged 56 wins, advancing to the 1993 NBA Finals and making three trips to the Western Conference Finals), but in an obvious period of transition, Phoenix must look to the future.
The seven-time NBA All-Star is entering the final year of his contract (he is set to earn more than $11.6 million next season) and, at 37 years old, his best days are clearly in his rearview mirror. While he has shown few signs of slowing down on the basketball court, sooner or later the Santa Clara product will eventually prove to be a mere mortal.
The Suns acquired point guard Aaron Brooks from the Houston Rockets at the trade deadline and while he is certainly not Nash's equal, Brooks started all 82 games for Houston in 2009-10, averaging nearly 20 points and more than five assists per game while shooting .398 from the three-point line. The former Oregon star didn't come close to matching those numbers this season, eventually losing his starting job to Kyle Lowry before being shipped to Phoenix, but Brooks was efficient and effective in his backup role for the Suns.
With a capable starter in Brooks on the roster and Nash's ability to remain healthy and productive, as well as his expiring contract, the Phoenix front office has an opportunity make a deal involving Nash which will give the organization viability for years to come.
2. Re-sign Aaron Brooks
Brooks, coming off a career year in which he was named the NBA's Most Improved Player, was slowed significantly by an ankle injury which kept him sidelined for six weeks and eventually paved the way for Lowry to slide permanently into the starting point guard position for the Houston Rockets.
After playing the worst basketball of his young NBA career during his 34 games with the Rockets this season, the 6-0, 161 lb., Brooks was traded to the Suns on Feb. 24. He played much more efficiently for Phoenix, showing signs of returning to his previous form, scoring 9.6 points and handing out 4.2 assists in just 18.9 minutes per game with the Suns.
The speedy sharp-shooter seems to be a perfect fit for Head Coach Alvin Gentry's up-tempo offense and thrives both in transition and in the screen-roll game.
Brooks can be a restricted free agent, meaning the Suns have the opportunity to issue him a Qualifying Offer (just shy of $3 million in this case) for next season by June 30th. The point guard will have an opportunity to sign an offer sheet with another team which the Suns will then have 15 days to match. If the Suns match the offer, the contract will stand with Phoenix; if not, the contract goes into place with the offering team. (You can read more about the process at our own Larry Coon's NBA Salary Cap /Collective Bargaining Agreement FAQ.)
With Nash in the twilight of his career (and potentially traded to another team), coming to an agreement with Brooks will be an integral part of the Suns' offseason maneuvering. A healthy, happy Brooks has proven to be a solid starting point guard in the NBA.
3. Allow Vince Carter to Walk
Back in December, the Suns agreed to a deal with the Orlando Magic which would ship Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Earl Clark to central Florida in exchange for center Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus, the Magic's first-round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and $3 million.
Carter, who carries career averages of 22.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, is no longer the marquee attraction that made him an eight-time NBA All-Star during his time with the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets.
Carter's contract is not fully guaranteed for next season; if the Suns waive him by June 30, 2011, they will owe him only $4 million instead of $18.3 million. At this stage in his career, keeping Carter around when he is due that kind of financial obligation makes no sense.
This season, the former NBA Slam Dunk champion posted career-lows in scoring (14.0 points per game) and assists (2.0) while shooting just .437 from the field. During his 51 games with the Suns, Carter hit just 42 percent of his field-goal attempts.
With his days as top box office draw and a premier scorer clearly behind him, the 34-year-old shooting guard is of little value to a team that has reached a crossroads. Phoenix must look to the future and Carter's best days are unmistakably in the past.
4. Continue to Develop Young Big Men
Despite the fact the two biggest names currently on the Suns' roster (Nash and Carter) are past their primes, there is still hope for the future in Phoenix. Center Marcin Gortat played very well this season and the Suns were able to nab power forward Gani Lawal, considered a first-round talent, with the 16th pick of the second round in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Add to the mix forward/center Channing Frye, a career .403 shooter from three-point range, and center Robin Lopez, the 15th overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft, and the Suns have a young, talented big man rotation with a great deal of size.
After spending the past three seasons stuck on Orlando's bench behind MVP-candidate Dwight Howard, the 6-11 Gortat averaged 13 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 while shooting .563 in fewer than 30 minutes per game for the Suns this season. The athletic 27-year-old is a legitimate starting center with the ability to push for an All-Star berth in the coming years.
Lopez hasn't progressed as an NBA player as quickly as he indicated early in his career, but is a solid one-on-one defender who can block shots (he has averaged nearly two blocked shots per 36 minutes in his three-year career) and knock down shots.
Lawal, a 6-9 rookie, played just two minutes for the Suns this season (he averaged 11.2 points and six rebounds in 10 games for the Iowa Energy of the D-League before tearing his ACL in January) but is a raw athlete who works extremely hard on the basketball floor. The former Georgia Tech standout runs the floor and finishes well, is a solid rebounder and has the tools to become very good defensive big man in the NBA.
While all of the players must continue to improve in order to give the Suns a chance to win, there is a tremendous amount of potential amongst the Phoenix big men. If Gentry's staff can develop this group, the Phoenix front line will be formidable for years to come.
5. Shore Up a Porous Defense and Find a Way to Rebound the Basketball
Some of the Suns' defensive woes can be attributed to a fast style of play which allows opposing offenses more possessions than would a slower offensive attack, but none of that can take away from the fact the opposing teams shot a .472 from the field against Phoenix this season (only Detroit, Toronto, Sacramento and Cleveland allowed teams to shoot a better percentage).
Gentry's team was the fourth-highest scoring team in the NBA this season, scoring just north of 105 points per game, but allowed opposing offenses to score nearly 106, second-most in the league.
Part of the Suns' problem is they are arguably the worst rebounding team in the NBA. Phoenix ranked 23rd in the league in rebounds per game (40.23) and 29th in opponents rebounds (44.29) and rebounding margin (-4.06). Only three teams in the NBA allowed its opponents more offensive rebounds than the Suns, who game up 12 per game.
There is no doubt that the Suns have to do a better job of contesting shots, but allowing so many second chance opportunities gives even a team that scores as well as the Suns almost no chance to win on a consistent basis.
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The last thing the Suns need is another pick in the middle of the first round as they continue to look for a face of the franchise in the post-Nash era. With Nash, they'll be able to compete for a playoff spot next year, but trading him now will provide the Suns with some talent/picks to continue moving towards the future as well as, likely, a high lottery pick in 2012. Phoenix has to quickly decide the direction in which the franchise wants to move. With the young core of Brooks, Gortat, and Lawal the Suns have some nice pieces, but without a star player tickets will be hard to sell and games will be even tougher to win.
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